Flannery O’Conner has again provided her audience a carefully woven tale with fascinating and intricate characters. “The Displaced Person” introduces the reader to some interesting characters who experience major life changes in front of the reader’s eyes. The reader ventures into the minds of two of the more complex characters in “The Displaced Person,” Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley, and discovers an unwillingness to adapt to change. Furthermore, the intricate details of their characters are revealed throughout the story. Through these details, the reader can see that both Mrs. McIntyre and Mrs. Shortley suffer from a lack of spiritual dimension that hinders them as they face some of life’s harsher realities. Mrs. McIntyre struggles throughout the story, most notably during the tragic conclusion. Her lack of spiritual dimension is revealed slowly until we ultimately see how her life is devastated because of it. Mrs. Shortley, on the other hand, seems to have it all figured out spiritually – or at least she believes that she does. It is only in the last few minutes of her life that she realizes all she has convinced herself of is wrong.Mrs. McIntyre is a divorced and widowed woman who has learned to depend only on her own strength during the day to day operating of her farm. She has created a comfortable world to exist in, and she fears change in that world. Mrs. McIntyre’s lack of spiritual dimension stems from this constancy of her surroundings. She has never been challenged by her circumstances and was thus never forced to examine her spiritual beliefs and their depth. We can see her fear of change when she speaks of the peacocks. She if afraid to let them all die off because she does not want her dead husband to be upset with the change on his farm. Though he died many years ago and she had two husbands after him, Mrs. McIntyre still strives to keep things the w...
